I came out to my car tonight after it had been raining pretty hard for an hour or so to find my windshield like this. It looks to me like someone hit my car with something, but I live in the middle of nowhere, with no neighbors. I was parked facing my garage, about five feet away. I can't figure out what may have done this. The mark in the middle is not a chip, just a point of impact I guess.
My opinion is it must have been something pretty large. The base of the damage seems to be several inches in diameter and it was not a sharp object at all. I don't think a bat. If you ever hit a windshield with a ball-ping hammer with enough force it will be a terrible break from the center and spider out quite a ways (10" to 12" each leg). As silly as it sounds, where there any trees up above? Maybe a turkey sleeping had fallen. Anyway, good luck finding the answer.
Well those are good guesses ladies but let me tell you what really happened. This damage was obviously caused by a fairly round bit of poo flushed from a 747 flying at 32,321 feet with an air temperature of 62 below zero. That's about -52C for those of your across the pond and colder than a witch's #&% for those of you in Montana. The original diameter of the poo was 1.5 in but grew to 2.25 in as ice crystals formed around it during the decent but then as it got closer to earth and the temperatures warmed up it thawed slightly and shrunk back to 1.9" at the time of impact. Still partially frozen it did not leave a smudge but bounced off where it was mistaken for a popsicle by a passing tan and black long nosed beagle with allergies, thereby eliminating all of the evidence.
I wouldn't expect a newbie to figure it out right away but you guys who have been around for awhile should be ashamed of yourselves. Screenman, surely you knew!